NS&T Download Help

The Data Download section allows the user to access data for each of the projects within the NS&T Program: Mussel Watch Project, Benthic Surveillance Project, and the Bioeffects Assessment Project. The available options allow the user to view all available data by file type, subset data by variable, view data dictionaries and project documentation files, and download search results in ASCII tab delimited format or XML format.

Data Files | Tool Options & Data Results | Download Options | Data Query



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Data Files

Data can be accessed for each of the projects within the NS&T Program: Mussel Watch Project, Benthic Surveillance Project, and the Bioeffects Assessment Project. A list of available data files by project will appear in this section on the left hand side of the screen. Click on a data file from the available list to view all data for that file type or the search can be restricted using the data query option (see Data Query help). The available data will appear in the Tool Options/Data Results window, use the navigation options at the top of the table to scroll through the data.

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Tool Options/Data Results

When you select Data Query from the Download Options the data selection form will be displayed in this area of the screen. Results from the different data selection options will also be displayed in this area of the screen. Attribute values for the first 10 records will be displayed in the table. Use the navigation bar at the top of the table to view more records or select from the download options to download the entire table to your computer in txt or xml format.

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Download Options

The download section allows the user to view project documentation files and download the contents of the Tool Options/Data Results window in either ASCII Tab Delimited format or XML format. These options are provided through the six available buttons:



Download TAB(zip)
By clicking the Download TAB(zip) button, the user can download the entire selected data file in ASCII Tab Delimited format. The data file is automatically zipped along with the data dictionary, documentation and FGDC metadata files for download.

Data Dictionary
Click on the Data Dictionary button to display a table with the description of each variable (field element) of the data file. The dictionary may also provide links to "Look-up" tables to describe codes associated to a particular variable and/or other URLs to obtain further information.

FGDC Metadata
The documentation of the data file in FGDC format can be obtained by clicking on the FGDC Metadata button. The information offered in this metadata document is organized in sections about Identification (e.g. information about the the data originator), Data Quality, Spatial Data Organization, Spatial Reference, Entity and Attribute, Distribution, and Metadata Reference.

Documentation
The documentation of the data file in Microsoft Word format can be obtained by clicking on the Documentation button. The information offered in this document is organized on sections about Data set Identification, Investigator Information, Data set Abstract, Objectives and Introduction, Data Acquisition and Processing Methods, Data Manipulations, Data Description, Geography and Spatial Information, Quality Control and Quality Assurance, Data Access and Distribution, References, Table of Acronyms, and Personnel Information.

XML
By clicking the XML button the user can view the search results in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

Data Query
The Data Query option allows the user to query the NS&T data tables from the Benthic Surveillance Project and the Mussel Watch project The user may parse the the table by any selected variable, select the columns for display, and/or download the desired query table in ASCII tab Delimited or XML format (see Data Query help for more details).

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Data Query

Click on Data Query to access the data selection form. By entering in a valid query this tool allows the user to subset the data file based on attribute values which meet specific criteria.

The steps for performing a NS&T data query are as follows:

1. Select a file type from the Data File list. Once the Tool Options/Data Results window displays the resulting data from the current file type selection, click the Data Query button.
2. From the Columns pull down menu select a variable
3. Choose an Operator
4. Select a value from the Distinct Values list
5. Select Build Query to add this filter to the query string.
   
   
   
   
6. More than one filter can be added to the query string. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to use additional filters in the query string using either And Operator or OR Operator to add these selections to the query. Using the And Operator returns those records which meet all conditions of the query string, while the Or Operator returns those records which meet only one of the conditions of the query string.
   
7. The Select Columns window displays the list of variables in the data set. Using the Ctrl key select the columns of data you would like to view in the Data Results window, and move the columns from the Available list to the Selected list using the column selection options.
   
   Choose this option to move all of the columns from the Available columns list to the Selected columns list.
   
   Choose this option to move the selected columns from the Available columns list to the Selected columns list.
   
   Choose this option to move the selected columns from the Selected columns list to the Available columns list.
   
   Choose this option to move all of the columns from the Selected columns list to the Available columns list.
   
8. Click Get Results to view the results of the query string . The data for the first 10 records will be displayed in the Data Results table. Use the navigation bar at the top of the table to view more results, or these results can be downloaded to your computer in txt or xml format.
   
   

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